1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for transmitting a burst in an optical burst switching system, and more particularly, to a method for transmitting a burst in an optical burst switching system that is capable of improving channel utilization and thus maximizing system performance by inserting and transmitting a data burst which originates from a current node and whose destination is a next node, into an empty void between data bursts that survive competition to occupy an output channel among data bursts transmitted to the next node by way of the current node.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional optical burst switching system, a burst control packet (BCP) is first transmitted when a burst is generated. After a certain time elapses, a data burst (DB), which is a burst for transmitting real data, is transmitted. This time difference is called an offset time.
Such method for transmitting a burst in an optical burst switching system has been designed so that a data burst transmitted to a next node by way of a current node, i.e., a transit data burst (TDB), and a data burst originating from the current node, attempt to occupy an output channel at the same time, wherein the data burst having the longer offset time is more likely to actually occupy the output channel.
FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a process in which data bursts (DBs) transiting a node compete with one another to occupy an output channel in a typical optical burst switching system. In the example illustrated, data bursts input through three input channels C1 to C3 compete with one another to occupy one output channel C4.
Referring to FIG. 1, a first arriving data burst DB occupies the output channel C4 first. In this case, X indicates a data burst DB that loses the channel competition and undergoes loss. The offset times toffset of all the input data bursts DBs are all the same. This allows the data bursts to compete with one another on even ground to occupy the output channel C4.
Meanwhile, an empty void is present between surviving data bursts (SDBs) that survive the competition to occupy the output channel C4.
In conventional art, however, such an empty void between survived data bursts is not well utilized. This degrades channel utilization and system performance.